 Hello everyone, I'm here with Seattle City Council member Shama Sawant representing the third district of the city of Seattle She was elected back in 2013 and ever since she was elected as the first Socialist in I think over a hundred years to serve on Seattle City Council There's been constant efforts from the capitalist forces big business to take her down But in spite of all of the opposition, she's been incredibly successful She led the charge to pass the first in the nation minimum wage of $15 an hour She led the charge to pass the first in the nation ban on chemical weapons used for crowd control against Protesters a lot that we saw during the George Floyd protests and she did a lot of other things And now the latest effort after Amazon spent 1.5 million to take her down in 2019 and failed at that now the right in the city of Seattle Seattle's elites are trying to take her down with a recall effort With four charges in particular here to talk about that is counsel woman Shama Sawant counsel woman Thank you so much for coming on the program Thank you so much for having me Mike your case here is really interesting because you have you have not been deterred You've had nothing but non-stop opposition not just from the right but from the Democratic Party establishment as well You know the mayor of Seattle Jenny Durkin is a Democrat So you have fought tooth and nail against these attacks and you would think that that would kind of knock somebody off their course But you've been really successful And I think that you you've been one of the most effective members of city council throughout the country And I think that what happens here is a microcosm of what could happen for the broader national and even international socialist movement So can you talk a little about a bit about the opposition that you faced especially with regard to this latest? Obviously bogus recall effort. It's not the first time as I alluded to I also want to note that you have faced Dozens of ethics complaints all of which are bogus. You faced defamation lawsuits because you've referred to Killings by police as murder Che Taylor in particular in Seattle So talk about this latest effort to basically stop you from changing Seattle for the better as you correctly said Mike ever since we were first elected in 2013 and Of course we won the first election in 2015 and our second re-election in 2019 despite The concerted efforts by Amazon and big business and I would say also the city's democratic establishment To try and drive socialist out of City Hall They didn't succeed in the effort and now they're trying a do-over of the election result that did they did not like in 2019 because there is no reality to the charges that they have leveled against me and in fact It's actually concerning especially in the context of heightened Right populism and the far-right riots at the Capitol building in Washington, DC the emboldening of a certain current of right-wing the death threats against Left elected officials like AOC and Ilhan Omar and Cory Bush I've had that threat directed against me recently and the Seattle police have done virtually nothing to Address those threats to figure out where they're coming from and so the recall effort against us is happening in this context where The legitimacy of the capitalist system is at an all-time low young generations are looking for an alternative to this rotten system because Especially the pandemic but in general the system has exposed itself as completely incapable of addressing Even basic needs of humanity look at the crisis with vaccination the pandemic Let alone larger questions of the climate catastrophe for example And so in this context it is important from the ruling classes standpoint it's important that they try to attack the left but especially the socialist left and Most importantly their need is to attack any successful examples where movements have fought back and won I mean, it's bad enough if you have the courage and the audacity to fight back But if you win you should expect that the ruling class the democratic establishment big business the right wing Will come after you and these recall charges are happening in that context And I would say they are really an example of how they what they fear is and what they hate What the ruling class hates is not only the actual victories We have one which is making Seattle the first major city to win the $15 minimum wage We just won the historic Amazon tax on big businesses to fund social housing and a green new deal We have won a whole series of renters rights that were thought impossible to win before we were elected But what they fear most of all is not just these individual victories Which they would like to roll back of course And we know that they will attempt to roll back many of these if they succeed in the recall effort But what they fear most of all is the example that we have said that it is possible for movements and not just movement but the socialist movement to get organized Win its own office in the midst of political domination by the corporate ruling class Win victories despite the onslaught of their opposition and then spread that example throughout the nation $15 an hour Went nationwide and now the Biden administration is being forced to talk about it. That's what they fear the most the example of the emboldened meant of ordinary people of working-class people and also the concrete Vision that we have shown that you can fight if you get organized in Democratic movements where rank and file are empowered. That is how we won the tax Amazon victory And so it's it's crucial that the ruling class push back against this and for for them for for to defeat the future efforts of movements and I can say with a lot of confidence that if they succeed in this recall effort against us They will not stop there. They will go after the socialist left and the broader left And that's why everybody all of us have a stake in in defeating this recall Yeah, and I want to just point everyone to an article that you wrote for Jacob and this was published in I think November of last year It's titled Democrats and the right are attacking me and left movements everywhere I would highly encourage everyone to read this article because it she really goes through Extensively how they've been attacking her consistently And really with Seattle, it's really interesting because this is where Amazon is headquartered You have the mayor of Seattle. She took $350,000 from Amazon, I believe when she was elected in 2017 you see Amazon funding To the tune of over a million dollars a campaign against the socialist city council member I mean this entire city has been captured by big business and You have kind of like forced everyone to take their masks off to where even the Democratic Party Establishment in Seattle is attacking you and coming up to you and the only way that you've really managed to Hold that seat and hang on to power is by really utilizing the grassroots And I think that the way that we are successful here And we stop this effort is by standing in solidarity with you and activating the grassroots So can you tell us what we can do if we live in Seattle or somewhere else in the country? How do we stop this recall effort? What can we do to help this cause because we want to have that seat remain in your control because you're already doing So much and as you said like the $15 an hour minimum wage that Biden's administration is proposing This is kind of being modeled after what you all did in Seattle, which They don't they don't want to see this because success it kind of leads to like a domino effect We've seen this time and again We're seeing it with you know marijuana legalization So the last thing they want is for you to make more progress and then pressure other cities and even you know Congress to act. So how do we stop this? I Think you're right About what you said in terms of the domino effect even look at the what happened in the recent election Florida which decisively went for Donald Trump and that's a dangerous trend These are the same voters some of those same voters who also voted in the $15 minimum wage in that same election What that shows you is how what's at stake for us, you know in defeating this recall, but also The larger goal of why there's an urgency to build the left Is not only because there is a real potential with especially the younger generations getting politicized to win Real victories like Medicare for all and a green new deal. Although there will be uphill fights but it also the Florida example also shows that in reality So many millions of working people who might have voted for Trump are actually going to be open to A real working-class strategy of fight back And it's in the absence of any real left alternative that they end up becoming fodder for Donald Trump's reactionary ideology and so the best way really of stemming the increasing tide of right populism is for us to urgently build a strong left and a socialist left nationally And defeating the recall attempt here is part of that national effort And so regardless of where you live, whether it's in Seattle or somewhere outside Seattle Please go to shama solidarity dot org. That's my first name ks. H. A. M. A Solidarity dot org to get more information about our campaign or as you said grassroots campaign to defeat this recall attempt And if you live in Seattle, we absolutely want your help more directly right now because of the lockdown with phone banking and reaching people in a socially distanced way, but later we will need Door knocking and face-to-face effort again socially distanced way to keep make sure we're We're keeping everyone safe But nationally if you're not in Seattle, then we do need your efforts with fundraising So please send us your individual donations But also if you're able to host a fundraiser where you are Please contact our campaign and we will absolutely help you set it up And we'll have all of the links to that down in the description box down below as well as on the screen as well and and also I would say Please reach out to Left leaders labor leaders social movement leaders in your area and urge them to publicly endorse our solidarity campaign Because it's that kind of public solidarity that we are going to need to help Ordinary people in our district who are ultimately going to be voting on this recall For them to understand that the left is united on this and that an attack Again, trauma someone is not an attack against her personally But an attack on the left overall an attack on working people and that if the recall goes ahead It will be a setback for all of us. And so I'm really happy that important Leaders and people who have sacrificed themselves for decades like norm chomsky Have endorsed our campaign labor leaders like sarah nelson have endorsed our campaign DSA elected leaders like julia salazar in new york Mike connelly and boston and byron sick cholo pez and rosanna rodriguez in chicago who are chicago elected alderman They've all publicly pledged their support for our campaign. We need that kind of support from leaders nationwide You know the you know the